And while real life archaeology may not be a roller coaster ride like in the movies, it can still be an adventure!

Indiana Jones’ first movie dealt with the quest for the fabled Ark of the Covenant, a search that has intrigued many an archaeologist. In Indy’s second movie, he travelled to India and helped rescue enslaved children from an ancient cult. Indy’s third adventure finds him searching for the long lost Holy Grail.

And in Kampung Boy we learn the story of a boy growing up on a rubber plantation in rural Malaysia.

If you were to write your own life story in graphic novel format, what parts of your life would you focus on? Would you draw it yourself, or get someone else to do it for you? If not you, what artist would you like to see illustrate your life?

You can find these and other true tales in the Graphic Novel section of the library’s Teen collection.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a wordless graphic novel telling the story of one immigrant’s journey to a new land. We follow him as he leaves his home, seeking to make a better life for himself and his family. He arrives in a strange new world and struggles to understand a new culture, a new language, new foods…a whole new way of life. With the help of others, who like himself came from other lands, he is eventually able to create a new home for his family.

Even though the story is fantastical in nature, it reminds us of our own familie’s struggles leaving their own homelands and making their way to the new world that is the United States of America. Some of our families have been here for many generations, while some of our families are only newly immigrated.

How much do you know about your own family history and heritage? Did your parents or grandparents immigrate here? Where were your ancestors from? You can learn more about ancestory and your family heritage by exploring some of the library’s databases. Take a look at Ancestory Library Edition and HeritageQuest Online both located on the libary’s History Database Page. You can also look at the library’s Genealogy Links Page for more internet resources you can use to research your family history.